Amazon’s Kindle Fire is flying off the shelves, with some estimating Amazon will have shipped nearly 5 million units by the end of the year. With a souped up 10-inch model reportedly in the works, it is clear Amazon recognizes the importance of the exponentially growing tablet market, and has been the only tablet that has put a dent in the iPad2′s market dominance, thanks primarily to the $199 price tag.

If you read through the reviews of the Kindle Fire, you’ll likely have noticed the one major drawback to the Fire. Even though the device has a dual-core processor that rivals those found in far-pricier tablets, the Kindle UI Android 2.3 overlay slows down performance on the device, with several users reporting much more lag than one would expect from a current generation tablet.

Amazon recognizes the problem, and has promised an over-the-air update within the next two weeks to fix this and other bugs users have been reporting. The update will provide:

Performance improvements

Improvements in multi-touch navigation

Allows the user to edit the list of items that show what users have recently been doing (so you can hide your navigation history from prying eyes)

Kindle Fire owners should be seeing this update hit their devices over the next few weeks, just in time for the holidays. Be sure to let us know once you get the update, and whether it fixes some of the bugs you’ve seen so far.

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Definitely a good sign, though the real test will be to see how they tackle upgrading major Android versions (like to ICS).

I suspect it just won’t happen. But then for $200 you can’t expect that much – if you want a really flexible tablet experience you’re going to need to root!

kimminer1

i agree!

Toonshorty

Amazon look like a genuine contender in the value for money market.

I think ASUS have the upper end of the market covered for now.

Besides, Motorola will have the iPad 2 3G banned soon anyway ;)

James Conley

Wouldn’t that be cool to give some grief back to apple

http://midweststitch.com ajonrichards

I noticed the lag when I played with a demo unit at a local Office Max. Not show-stopping lag, but enough to scratch your head over, considering it’s a 7-inch dual-core tablet.

http://www.anthonydomanico.com Anthony Domanico

I must not be doing the right things, because I’ve played with two devices thus far, and haven’t really noticed it.

Maybe my expectations are lower for a $200 tablet.

BiGMERF

bingo

“Maybe my expectations are lower for a $200 tablet.” well said

LukeT32

Yeah for $200 all it needs to do is turn on. :) the general public wants something amazing though.

Jaz

The kindle fire looks good. Maybe they’ll lower the price when the 10″ model is released. For now I’m pretty happy with my touchpad. No netflix for webos but now that its open source you never know. I may get the kindle for my wife though. With Amazon prime and the streaming Amazon videos its a great buy.

frmorrison

You can load CM7 on your Touchpad to get Netflix. CM7 only takes 2 gigs.

For those without a TP, the Fire is a great buy.

thechad

CM7 good call

ranwanimator

I wonder how rushed the OS was on the Fire. You know they were trying to get it out before the Christmas rush. I agree with BiGMERF that their continued and rapid support is a nice vision for the future of the Fire.

I still think it’s a feature stripped glorified e-reader though.

http://goncalossilva.com goncalossilva

I was hoping to see “Ice Cream Sandwich” among the changes… actually, I wasn’t. But it would be GREAT :p

http://androidtidbits.com Androidtidbits.com

I saw an article with Nook Tablet running a customized version of ICS. We might be seeing Android 4.0 ICS on Kindle Fire soon.

tpulu

Good to see that they are supporting the device so well. Hopefully they keep it up, thinking of picking one up for my daughter this Christmas.

Shawn Flanagan

Nice to see this issue being addressed. Even on the games that the device comes preloaded with, there is a significant delay between an action and the sound associated with the action. For example, Peggle has major delays in the sound of the ball bouncing off a peg.

Hopefully this OTA update won’t break root, like the last OTA did.

YMS123

At $200 the Fire make a great gift, I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of people with them after the holidays

http://keridel.blogspot.com keridel

still really pissed this is a US exclusive. that and the US app store puts amazon at the bottom of the pile for the rest of the world when it comes to android. (well 2nd from bottom. motorola is first)

YellowDucati

They need to add the ability to password protect purchases. My son has bought a few apps and songs while I wasn’t looking. Fortunately Amazon refunds the purchases.

PapaLos

The Fire is going to be the new thing that everyone its going to have. And with Amazon seemingly keeping up with it with support and updates like this, I’d be scared if I was anyone else that wasn’t high end.

ArticulateFool

The $200 tabpet pricepoint seems to be a consumer sweet spot. These are selling at an alarming rate!

tequilya

I’m really impressed with these for what they cost. I’ve been letting my 5yr old play with work’s transformer and he loves it. Now to see if I can borrow my sister-in-law’s Fire for further 5yr old usability testing :)

If it holds up to this rigorous review process and custom ROMs start showing up to get a full Android experience, Santa might have to drop one of these babies down the chimney for the family to share.

Danny Calderon

It needs more memory

http://www.anthonydomanico.com Anthony Domanico

sadly, memory can’t be pushed via an over the air update. ;)

stenzor

You mean I CAN’T download more RAM? What is this nonsense!

James Conley

If I don’t win some kind of tablet in these daily contests here I am totally gonna have to spring from one of these and put ICS on it. I always have the poor man’s tablets lol. Right now I am rocking the OG nook color with CM7. Maybe it’s time for CM9 fire.

http://ilysespieces.tumblr.com Ilyse Rose

It’s always good to see support happening so quicky.

zyphbear

While I’m glad they are doing updates, I really wish ‘Performance improvements’ could be clarified a little. Will they be fixing the Silk issues? I even tried one out at my local Target and there was many times I was just standing there waiting for things to load. It really made me doubt wanting to get it.

Malanarth

ICS is all they need to do, drop the extras.

jamal

ICS would be a wonderful treat for the Fire.

xray49er

I pre-ordered the Fire as a Christmas gift for my mom . I have not even taken it out of the box to make sure it works i just hope the update is here before christmas so my mom can enjoy a smooth experience

Robert Whittaker

Update? We haven’t even got the current version yet. Maybe I’ll get a MIPS!

kzlife

Waiting for a Europe release >.<

behzadbayat

Amazon is the one this market needed to kick the tablet makers into making more affordable and snappy tablets.

behzadbayat

But they should broaden their sales to worldwide and EU.

awundrin

I still kinda wished I would have spent the $ on a Fire–looks like a decent toy to have on the desk!

epps720

Good news, I just ordered one for the mother-in-law. My wife’s siblings wanted to spend over 2x the amount and get her an i*ad which she wouldn’t use it for 5% of the capabilities…besides why would you want an i*ad when you can have a Transformer Prime!

txbluesman

Amen to that! That is funny, we got one for the mother-in-law as well.

moelsen8

i was debating on the fire as a secondary/budget tablet for a little while now, but then ended up pulling the trigger on the htc evo view 4g that was on sale for $230 last week at 1saleaday. seems to have pretty decent specs (even with the 1.5 ghz single core) and looks to be getting honeycomb soon. i’m excited to see how a 7″ tablet feels compared to my xoom. but have to agree, $200ish is a sweet spot for these things.

ramenchef

Hopefully amazon keeps the Fire fully supported. I think it has a strong niche.

Charlesbrown79

I’m kinda on a low budget for a tablet. Should I go with Kindle Fire, Nook 2, or something from Archos?

Adrien C.

I’d go with a Nook Tablet. Ordered a Kindle Fire and was filled with regred when I found out about the NT. Double the ram and a SD slot for $50 more.

txbluesman

The new Archos devices are quite a bit more expensive, but I do like them better for much more hardware and options on the device. I got a Fire for my daughter, and it is great for her. I like it too. What ever your needs are, you have some good choices in mind. Good luck and enjoy!

calihawki

I won mine at the company Xmas party. I haven’t played with it much but it is a nice alternative to my Xoom.

humidity

I can’t wait for a 10-inch version! Hopefully it’ll be released soon for like $300!

Omar Santiago

im having a hard time choosing between this and the nook tablet!!! any help guys?

txbluesman

Glad they are working on the update. My daughter is going to be very excited to get here new fire for christmas.

stenzor

Good job Amazon! Show em how it’s done

BigCiX

I bought this for my daughter for her christmas present. I immediately opened it up and first think i notice that i don’t like was the bookshelf. I got rid of that and put Go Launcher EX on it. If an update comes out that gives us the option to use a launcher (supported) then that will be great. My only problem now is the wallpaper that i put in the background will change back to the standard one once it’s goes into sleep mode. Has anyone found a way around this hit me up.

Aleksandar Simov

good news, i’m glad that support is coming so quickly :))

cvette83

X-Mas can’t come soon enough. I held off on buying because it’s on my wishlist. GF better come through or else she’s gonna have some ‘splainin to do.

Louis A

Why can’t manufactures give consumers what they want. It’s always a product they sent out and have to later do updates and updates and updates to get it right. Why can’t they just make it work right the first time? Typical product style, consumers are always the testers.

Nathan D.

nice to see amazon to support their devices based on users report

Hall Lo

This is some good and nice support! :D

la_resistance28

Too bad the update can’t add a hardware volume control switch… =(

donger

lol

PiTTDRoiD

via OTA?….jejejejeje

lovidovie

i want the kindle so bad it looks awesome my dad has one does it really have that many problems all you have to do for the sound is get some speakers and your good =)

sgumer

i really want one of these. they look amazing and can do a lot for what they are priced at.

vitebsk66

Not sure whether this is a good sign or a bad one. For this update to come out so soon after the initial product launch could make it seem like they rushed the product to market a little before it was truly ready just to catch the Christmas shopping season. Hopefully after the update it’ll be a complete and stable product.